


Face Value

by CaffeinatedWriter



Series: Steven Universe AU [2]
Category: Bully (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Steven Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2015-06-19
Packaged: 2018-04-05 03:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4164783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaffeinatedWriter/pseuds/CaffeinatedWriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pete is not emotionally stable enough for serious conversations with Gary Smith.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Face Value

Pete hates this planet.

Not like Homeworld, who looked at it with a distaste and a disinterest beyond their own need for it in the time before the war. It’s nothing against the humans, though they are awfully oversimplified in their understanding of absolutely everything. He just, he misses home, and this confusing little planet that’s changed so much since they first arrived is nothing like home.

It’s worse too since the past year that he’s had to attend this stupid school in order to keep watch over the asset, and it’s not fair that his mentors would put him in this position. Humans are dull, and their education system is ridiculously broken.

There’s really no wonder they’re all so dumb.

He can practically feel Gary breathing down his neck from across the room. Metaphorically speaking of course, although he wouldn’t put it past the other gem to do so literally, what with his fondness of imitating the humans.

Partially, Pete can understand how that might be his own fault. He’s more than capable of educating Gary in the proper way to be behave, but something about that just seems wrong. And beyond that, it’s not his job to educate the asset. 

He’s done his dues; the fact that he has to remain here on this stupid planet and continue to prove himself with bitch work does nothing to calm his attitude towards the other gem.

A conversation he’s been dreading for weeks looms over the room. He sighs, pushing away from the desk to face the other boy peering back at him from his bed.

He’d known from the second he’d become aware of Gary’s presence during his argument with Jimmy that confrontation would be coming. Something Jimmy had made clear to him he deserved, and didn’t that sting, to be made to feel like a stupid, chastised child.

Not a feeling he’s all that estranged from, what with his mentors the way they are.

The problem had been that he wasn’t sure when or how it would manifest itself, especially taking into account how odd Gary was with his interactions.

Avoiding it by remaining busy had seemed a good solution, he’d had no desire to have Gary of all gems yell at him over a concern he was warranted in having, but the issue remained that the workload the humans assigned was not all that time consuming and the rest of his time was to be allotted to keeping an eye on Gary.

“Gems are more forward than this,” Pete insists, irritated at the prolonged silence.

“Bullshit,” Gary argues, legs crossed like an over eager kindergartener.

Fitting, though there’s a feeling of regret the moment it crosses his mind. He’s quick to push it away though. Feeling guilty over an offhand thought, over Gary much less, is unreasonable.

“Excuse me?” Pete demands, repressing the feeling of restlessness and the ridiculous urge to quell it by spinning in the chair. It’s something he’s seen Gary do on occasion, forever incapable of sitting still for large periods of time. The urge to do so now confuses him about as much seeing Gary do it does, and there’s nothing on Earth that confuses Pete more than Gary does.

Gary looks more smug than Pete thinks he has a right to, shrugging in a way that works to piss Pete off in its dismissiveness. If there’s anyone who has no right to dismiss him, it’s Gary Smith.

“Hopkins says your internalized idea of what a gem should be is just you being neurotic, and I shouldn’t take it to heart. Which is obvious because I think you’re an idiot, and I don’t listen to you anyways.”

Pete scoffs, tamping down the hurt that threatens to bubble up from the statement. Why should he care what Jimmy thinks of him? It doesn’t matter that Jimmy’s the only other gem from the Homeworld anywhere near as young as him. As far as Pete is concerned, he’s just as invalid as Gary.

“You don’t have the slightest idea what being a gem means,” he hisses. “You don’t-”

“Whatever, Pete. I’m a gem, just like you actually. The only major difference is you had your people to show you the way, enough to pass as normal even though they still hate you, and I was left to rot in an  _abandoned fucking hole in the ground._ ”

“Sh-shut up, Gary. Honestly, you sound like such an ass right now. Not that that’s anything new,” he says, beating himself up mentally for the stutter.

Gary is a vicious arguer, and somehow manages to really nail his point in even when he’s so far out of the loop, he shouldn’t even be able to make an argument. That’s the worst part about the gem honestly. He refuses to accept what he doesn’t know or let it stand in his way.

Pete hates it. Because it isn’t fair, and Jimmy shows up in their lives just as Petey’s starting to justify everything to himself. Starts backing up Gary’s argument, and it feels like even his mentors aren’t in his corner most days. He can’t even remember the last time they had a conversation that didn’t revolve around  _Gary_.

“Wow, that hurts me real deep, Petey boy. So deep. I mean, maybe not as deep as your victim complex or that self-loathing problem you have, but damn,” Gary drawls, smiling like he didn’t just cut deep, and Pete blames Jimmy for it mostly. Before Jimmy, Gary had just assumed Pete’s attitude was the norm.

Before Jimmy, Pete could pretend it was true.

“I hate you,” he hisses, shame at the beginning of tears forming.

“Why? Why are you so obsessed with distancing yourself from me?”

“Because!”

“ _Because why_?” Gary demands, bolting from the bed to stand in front of Pete, hands grabbing the back of the chair to hold him in place. It’s hard enough he can hear the plastic protesting against the grip, and for the first time (and he knows that’s less than true but he’ll be damned if he admits it) he’s afraid of Gary.

“Because! If I acknowledge that you’re really a gem, and of course you are, then I have to acknowledge they were all gems. Not just a experiment that went too far. Not just a mistake we cleaned up after. Genocide!” he yells, biting his lip to hold back any more of the pathetic gasping noises he’d always thought himself too good to make.

“That’s stupid,” Gary dismisses, fingers loosening from the chair but not retreating.

“It’s not stupid! I just want to go home. I don’t want to be on this stupid planet anymore. Do you know how many gems there are on Earth? Not many. And every single gem on Homeworld views you more highly than they do us. You had a  _purpose_ , and  _I_ am the bottom of a totem pole of traitors. And there were more, just like you…”

He sighs, fingers clenching at his thighs painfully.

“It’s just hard,” he mumbles. “You get that, right?“

Gary blinks.

“No. I don’t care about the others.”

Pete gapes, breath stuttering.

“How can you say that? They were just like you! They were the same, and we destroyed them. Not all of them emerged during the war. There were so many afterwards, clueless and we…we murdered them.”

The other gem takes a step back, something Pete appreciates and dreads in equal measure. Gary is unpredictable and that’s terrifying to him. Not being certain of another’s intentions or capabilities, and Gary is so much stronger than they originally thought.

“Well, I didn’t get where I am caring about others. They’re dead. Gone. I’m not. It’s a good thing.”

“That’s heartless,” he sniffles pathetically, rubbing at the tear tracks. It’s embarrassing, now that he’s calmed down. He feels ridiculous.

“That’s why I like you, Pete. We’re the same.” Gary grins, making a wide sweeping gesture. “You’re less ashamed of it than you let on.”

“Are you calling me heartless?” Pete asks, offended. He likes to think that beyond his tactless interactions with Gary, he’s a kind enough person. And maybe that’s a dismissive way to look at the way he’s acted thus far, but Gary’s more likely to appreciate someone sticking to their guns than a weepy apology.

“Mm, maybe not heartless. Your overwhelming internalized guilt over squashing a genetically engineered army speaks against that. Ruthless though. It’s very inspiring,” he says, folding onto the floor in front of Pete. Again, looking as eager as toddler.

“You like me because I hate you?”

“Oh please. You don’t hate me. I frustrate you. You have no idea what it means to be a gem either, do you? You’ve been on Earth almost as long as me, and Jimmy says you’re around the same age.”

“My mentors-”

“Knowing about a culture and living in a culture are different. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s a bunch of fake English kids making fools of themselves at this school.”

He shakes his head, insistent. Knowing it and admitting it are different. He knows Gary’s speaking the truth, but saying so to him would be too much to handle.

“I am a gem. I’m not…I know who I am. I’m-”

“Pyrite,” Gary interrupts, sounding bored.

“What?”

“Pyrite. Humans call it Fool’s Gold. Pretty dumb. Gold is a useless ass metal, all soft and worthless. Humans put so much worth in face value. Gems too, actually. But anyway, I’m not stupid, Pete. I know how to use the internet.”

“But. You still call me-”

“Look, Jimmy was right about one thing, which doesn’t change the fact that he’s a giant asshole, but the point stands. I’m Gary. You’re Pete. Jimmy is Jimmy. And yeah, we’re all kind of bad at being gems. You too, so stop trying so hard to showcase your worth to gems who took away your chance to be what they wanted,” Gary huffs, rolling his eyes. “You’re more than face value.”

Pete stares, collecting himself. Nobody else had ever acknowledged it before. Not his mentors who, in all the time they’d insisted his existence was best served on Earth, had never given him any other option. All he’d ever had to go on was their distaste for Gary.

“Okay,” he says.

“Okay?” Gary repeats.

“I’m sorry. You’re not worthless,” Pete apologizes, shifting awkwardly. The words feel strange in his mouth, though this is far from the first time he’s apologized. Maybe though, it’s the first time someone deserved it.

Gary scoffs, waving off the apology. He grins, dirty and playful in a way that Pete is coming to associate with friendship in terms of both Gary and Jimmy.

“No, I’m pretty worthless, but that’s subjective. Gems seem to think so, humans too,” he shrugs, leaning back on his hands. “Don’t particularly care about my worth. At this point I’m just trying to have a good time, and let me tell you, dashing expectations is fun for the whole family.”

“We could be a family,” Petey says, words out of his mouth before he comprehends them. He slaps his hands over his mouth, something that feels just as silly as the words. It seems like he’s going to be digging his own grave until the day he dies.

“Ugh,” Gary groans. “You had to get all chick flick with this, didn’t you?”

He laughs. It seems like the only appropriate thing to do. He’s not sure what the future holds, especially with the way things are changing, but for once, Pete feels like he’s in the loop.


End file.
